| Fan Fiction |
by .flavored
~*~
Harajuku Station, Tokyo.
A place full of life – people bustling around, people shopping, people eating, people laughing, people parading, people just walking past.
At least, it was once. Five years ago.
The colourful shopping district had been dulled by the war and death. Now, buildings drooped in disrepair – streaked by grime and blackened by dust. Roads cracked and broke where moss and weeds had struggled its way out. The trees were unhealthy and yellow, hunching over like old men.
And the people themselves seemed just another part of the sad scenery – like whispers trapped in empty shells, hollowed out and empty. Everyone was eyeing everyone else, wary, as if their stares would keep the danger away.
And they had good reason to. Harajuku was near enough to the city center of Ginza to make it inhabited, yet far enough for it to become the slums of Tokyo.
And in such a place like this, everyone had to carry knives in their pockets for the Yakuza ruled the area.
This was probably (definitely) the reason why visitors were like fishes in a desert.
Yet, there the two fishes were, not only painfully standing out, but also suspicious with their hooded cloaks.
Gangs prowled every street corner. Dissatisfied tattooed middle-aged men and angst Goth teenagers sat in groups, glaring at anyone who dared step within 5 meters of them. Their haunted, angry eyes suggested if you so much displeased them just by looking at them, they would skin you alive.
Of all the things they hated, visitors were just about the top of their list.
That pretty much explained why the denizens of Harajuku seemed to be sharpening their knives everywhere the two went.
“Unni…” the shorter figure hissed in murmured Korean. “Why are we here? Are you just itching for a fight?”
The taller figure seemed amused, “Hime-chan~ Why are you so worried? I’m not looking for a fight.”
The shorter winced as her companion spoke in fluent Japanese, her voice purposefully carrying. She could feel those watching bristle suspiciously in response.
A laugh like the ringing of chimes, then a flow of Korean. “Dongsaeng-ah, you have to trust me more. I never do things just to satisfy my whims.”
The taller ignored the snort of disbelief, continuing. “And don’t worry. He IS tailing us. All ready to pummel anyone who even dares ruffle a hair on our magnae’s head.”
The shorter settled into a grudging silence, though her companion knew that she was continuing her complaints in her head.
Noticing the knowing smile on her companion’s face, the shorter mumbled an unrepeatable curse and something about fishes and deserts.
A raised eyebrow. “Well, maybe not so much fishes. Sharks would be a better comparison for us, don’t you think?”
And although unhappy, the shorter knew in her heart that she agreed.
~*~
Not far from there, the remains of buildings once skyscrapers lay in ruins and debris in miles of destroyed land.
The place resembled an endless graveyard. And on a deeper thought, it probably was. The cities were worst affected by the Mutation, there being so many more people to mutate. The worst of the monster attacks occurred in the cities.
And also the most number of deaths.
This was definitely not a good neighbourhood to raise your kids in.
But in all the nooks and crannies, there were many excellent places to hide. Kids, orphans mostly, liked to seek shelter here in the night, rather taking their chances with the dead and monsters than with the harsh elements and human rejection.
Yet, it was day-time, and the place still deserted. No signs of life could be spotted throughout the forlorn terrain.
No signs of life, that is, until the sound of a sneeze rang out amidst the ruins of Takashimaya. It was a muffled sneeze, but a sneeze nevertheless.
There was a soft but painful smack accompanied by a bitten-off yelp.
Then all was silent again.
~*~
The wind whistled through the rough terrain as if needing to create noise in a place otherwise scarily silent.
It needn’t have bothered. A loud blast of engine suddenly tore across the ground as a gang of four black motorbikes raced through as if the hounds of hell were after them.
Then, they were gone, leaving behind only the scattering of echoes and trails of disturbed dust.
Behind them, two shadows darted across the landscape, trailing the four silently like a curse.
~*~
“Targets in sight. Prepare to commence mission.”
A static whisper, barely audible in normal conditions, and definitely nonexistent in the face of four snarling Harley Davidsons.
They roared into the scene, bouncing over the debris, leaping off a mile-high cliff and landing perfectly to a stop. The loud growls cut off abruptly as the keys turned and engines died.
“Targets reached destination. Maintain radio silence.”
Six people got off the bikes – four guys and two girls. All were dressed in black leather clothing with questionable slits. All were extremely good-looking and athletic.
And all were laughing their heads off like someone had stuffed nitrous oxide up their noses.
“Aw man, the look on their faces when just stormed in like that.” The first biker, a mean-looking guy with spiky red hair and a brilliant smile roared, ruffling the hair of an impish, frail-looking girl.
“Yeah.” Two guys, both with silver hair and very obviously twins. “What do you think? Ruki-sama?”
“Mmm…” the last biker seemed more preoccupied with fondling the lanky Okinawa girl in his arms. “Go put it in the safe-house, Shou.”
“Sure thing, Ruki-sama! Mari-chan, stay here.” Shou laughed, catching the strange, shimmering cube that Ruki threw at him. “Man, today was a good haul! Are we going to keep it?”
“We’ll see.” Ruki intoned, “Viper says that she feels our hide-out too cramped with the twins growing bigger and all. Maybe we’ll get a new place for the four of you so the two of us can finally get some alone-time.”
While the rest laughed at this, Shou happily detached from the group, walking into the ruins of a brownish-building. Laid close to the floor was a mangled bronze plate. A single Romanized Japanese word was stamped onto it –
‘Takashimaya’.
The half-destroyed hall that Shou entered was empty, filled with seemingly innocent piles of rubble. It was one of these innocent piles of rubble that Shou went up to.
“Alley-oop!” Shou pushed upon one of the stones. It slid back, revealing a man-sized doorway. “Ah, I must admit, it was smart of Viper to think of disguising our safe-house as a pile of old stones… Ah, love this place. The smell of technology”
As he said, their safe house was not just a pile of old-stones, but a cage made entirely out of stripes of reinforced titanium. And inside that cage…
Shou breathed a sigh of happiness, taking in all their technological treasures lovingly placed on shelves and showcases.
Distracted by the glint of metal, he didn’t notice the shadow lurking behind a shelf, nor did he hear a light cackle of static as a message transmitted.
“Whenever you’re ready, Heechul…”
“Mmm… now, now. Where should I put you?” Shou, still oblivious to his surprise visitor. “Besides the Crystal Nightshade or the Xerxes Oltide?”
“The Xerxes Oltide. It can feed off errant rays from energy cubes without it being directly connected. But it must be close enough.”
“Ooo... Thanks.” Shou happily put it down. “That was good advice that was – eh?”
He spun around, suddenly realizing something very wrong with the picture. “Hey! Who the heck are you?”
His visitor, a lean boy with extremely pretty features eyeballed him. Heechul pulled his fist back. “Why does everyone ask the same thing?”
It was last thing Shou saw before he blacked out.
~*~
“Hmm… Twins, go check out on Shou. Mari is starting to look like she’s going to cry any minute.”
“Aw…” the twins pouted at their leader. “Why can’t Mari-chan go herself?
Viper finally spoke up, her voice like a whispering vine. “You know she can’t. Shou-kun told her to stay here and she never disobeys an order given by him.”
“Just kidding.” One of the twins detached himself from the other, patting the trembling girl on the head. “I’m sure Shou’s just mesmerized by the stuff inside as usual.”
The other twin nodded. “God knows why, they’re just pieces of junk that got the world in the trouble that it’s in now anyway.”
The three watched as the twins walked away, arm in arm, playing with each other’s hair and whispering secret thoughts to each other.
“Even after five years with them,” Ruki murmured to Viper. “It’s still a little strange to see them act like that.”
“Mmm… but you aren’t in a position to complain.” Viper hissed, automatically moving her mouth closer to his. “The Twins say that we act pretty strange too.”
In a heated moment, their lips touched, and then swallowed till all that was seen was a mash of bodies and breath.
Five minutes later, they broke apart, panting and giggling. Raw desired poured out from both of them and only the thought that it was uncomfortable to do anything on debris laden ground stopped them from taking off their clothes.
That, and the sudden realization that Mari was right besides them, probably blushing herself into a fever.
“Sorry about that, Mari-chan.” Viper chuckled. Then a worried gasp. “Mari-chan?”
Ruki turned at Viper’s sudden exclamation. True enough, the little imp was gone.
“What?” Ruki’s eyes hardened, narrowing into slits. “An ambush? How cowardly.”
Viper frowned, and immediately guessing what her guardian wanted her to do, scanned the area for any enemies. Her left eye gleamed a sickly yellow green as she located the enemy’s position using her power as a Tracker.
Ruki glanced toward Viper and they exchanged a knowing look.
Before one could even comprehend, the two of them dashed towards a tall pile of rock, Ruki slicing it down in half with his Buster Sword and Viper not far behind with a net, ready to trap their quarry down.
A loud explosion.
Then confusion as Viper and Ruki stared at the carnage of rock at their feet.
There was no one there.
Viper stared hard, entirely confounded. Her right eye told her that there was no one there, but in her left eye, she still saw the red outline of a person squatting there.
Noticing the bewildered look on Viper’s face, Ruki lost his temper. “What did you do to Viper?!”
“Relax.” There was a short laugh. “It’s just a simple hallucination dart. The needle dissolves upon impact and most people only feel the tiniest of ant bites. You didn’t even flinch, being the throngs of lust as you were.”
Ruki and Viper turned to where they thought the voice came from. They turned in completely opposite directions.
“Kuso… Come out you!” Ruki growled, getting frustrated. “What did you do to Mari?”
“Tsk, such language. I might if you ask more politely. And who? Did you mean that little girl? Oh, I didn’t do anything to her. She just went off on her own.”
“Went off on her own?” Viper murmured. “Why would she do that without Shou’s orders?”
“Shou? Ah, you mean her guardian. Well, maybe it’s because she sensed that her guardian’s out cold thanks to our little surprise?”
Ruki and Viper looked at each other. There was no need for any signal or exchange. They both raced in the direction of the Takashimaya ruins.
“Uh, uh, uh.” That irritating voice called out again. “We can’t have you spoiling the party we planned for the Twins and Mari-chan. Stay and play with us instead.”
There was an unearthly howl as a strong tempest picked up through the ruins. The sky overhead turned overcast, and what was once a burning desert in the day turned to a freezing ice-land in just seconds.
Ruki barely managed to dodge as the first attack came. He yelled at Viper, who, not as fast, got body-slammed by a dark misshapen figure, launching her into a nearby pile of rubble.
“Viper!” Ruki cried out, dashing to her side, helping her out of the Viper-shaped cavern she had created.
“Shit. What the hell was – kuso.” Viper suddenly turned pale as she hung around Ruki’s arm.
“What…?” then he looked up to where Viper was pointing. “Kuso!”
Around them, dark figures of whispering shapes were inching closer to them, surrounding them. They resembled oversized panthers, all crouching, all ready to attack. With each step, a howling wind blew past, sounding of muffled screeches.
Viper shrunk against Ruki. “Maybe they’re hallucinations.”
At that moment, one of the Beasts lunged forward, slashing at Ruki’s arm. He flinched as a cut opened up, blood pooling out. “No, they’re real all right. Shit. Just out luck that they have a Necromancer.”
With a unified howl, the Beasts of Death leapt at their prey.
~*~
“Shou! Mari-chan’s looking for you! Shou?!”
The Twins looked down in disbelief at the scene in front of them. Shou was hunched up in a corner, unconscious, and being bound and gagged by a scary, but pretty 25 year-old man.
Within a second, the twins had their guns out and pointed them at the stranger. “Who are you? What are you doing with Shou?”
As if noticing them for the first time, the man jumped out in surprise. To their utter bemusement, the stranger looked at them with absolute annoyance.
“Seriously! Does no one know me?!” he exclaimed in Korean, looking appraisingly at the sky.
“You’re Korean?” the Twins stared at him, automatically switching to Korean.
“Yes, and you’re late.” The stranger sighed, not the least bit miffed at being on the wrong end of two guns. “Did you forget? Your boss arranged to play a trick on your teammate here. You were supposed to be the ones jumping him, remember? I had to do everything myself.”
“Trick?” the Twins glared at him. “Ruki-sama didn’t arrange anything like that.”
“Oh, yes, he did!” the stranger glared back, rattling on. “He paid me in advance too. Imagine the fuss he’d kick if the trick didn’t get carried out! I might need to give back the 300 Adonis! And in greens too! And then I’d really be in trouble then! I already spent all the money! And I–”
‘Heads up.’
The Twins frowned at the sudden voice in their head. Their eyes widened in realization and they looked upwards, dodging the fury of sword strokes raining down on them as a lady dressed in army green fell from the ceiling.
“–will really be in serious trouble one day if the screw-ups with my telepathic Soul continue any longer.” Heechul sighed, dashing towards the twins while they were preoccupied with his Soul, managing to knock them both unconscious with one move.
“Hey!” his soul, a feisty-looking Korean girl dressed in street-punk, growled, whacking him in the arm with the flat of her blade. “I could have handled it.”
“Sure, Miseon.” Heechul chuckled, rubbing his arm a little. “You’re welcome.”
“You!” Miseon seemed about ready to throttle Heechul when a scream interrupted their tiny squabble.
“Shou!” Heechul and Miseon turned to the horrified little girl, standing shell-shocked at the doorway. “You hurt my Shou!”
“Yah, yah, yah! Hurt Shou?” Heechul stepped forward, speaking in only slightly stumbling Japanese, his eyes wide with innocence. “Oh, no, we didn’t do that. We’re helping him! The Twins did it.”
But the hysterical girl didn’t hear a word. Instead, she let out a yell that shook the very ground.
Literally.
Heechul and Miseon collasped in pain, hands clutching at their ears.
“By all the things holy! She’s a Voice! And a strong one too!” Heechul shrieked at Miseon, who shrieked back something about adding to the noise.
Then, the scream cut off abruptly. Heechul and Miseon looked back up in time to see the girl slump into the arms of a cheeky-looking young man with unique features. He brushed back his ash-brown hair to take a pair of white ear-plugs out of his ears.
“Glad to see me?” he winked at the both of them.
“You sure took your time, Hyung!” Heechul winced at the ringing in his ears.
“Leeteuk-oppa.” Miseon bowed respectfully, nudging Heechul in the ribs. “Thank you for helping us.”
“Naw, you two could have handled it.” Leeteuk smiled. “But I just thought that since we finished up with the other two early, I might as well speed things up here. Nice ad-libbing by the way, Heechul-sshi.”
“Ooo… highest praise from our revered iDOL leader.” Heechul said sarcastically, earning another bruise in his ribs. “Oh, alright. Let’s tidy up here and leave.”
~*~
“Cho-a! All done! What do you think? Yesung-oppa?”
The said young man looked up from his book, to glance at the chirpy European girl decked in purple. His eye-line then shifted downwards at Ruki and Viper, who were tied up with properly done knots and gags.
“Mmm… good job, Hirin.” Yesung murmured before going back to his book.
Hirin looked doubtfully at Yesung. There was that preoccupied look in his eyes when he had given his appraisal.
Then again, Yesung always did look preoccupied.
“I agree with Yesung-sshi, Hirin-ah~” Hirin jumped about five feet into the air, yelping in surprise. She whirled around, glaring at her grinning Guardian.
“Leeteuk-oppa! Don’t do that!”
“Shouldn’t you be used to him popping up like that by now?” Hirin turned again to see Heechul and Miseon walking towards them, with the rest of their prisoners in tow.
“Heechul-oppa! Miseon-unni!”
“Hey, Hirin. Nice work with those bonds.” Miseon commented as she tossed Shou and Mari with the rest.
Hirin beamed, knowing Miseon didn’t give praise easily.
“Alright. Time for the boring stuff. Hirin, can you translate for me? Good.” Leeteuk stepped in front of their prisoners with an air of practiced business.
Ruki and Viper, the only conscious ones, took the chance to glare at him. “Ruki, Viper, Shou, Mari and the Twins, you are hereby put under the arrest for theft, arson, breaking and entering, robbery, larceny…”
Leeteuk paused dramatically. Behind him, Heechul did the parody of a yakking mouth. Miseon whacked him on the head.
“… and felony, in the form of the creation of the dark iDOL, Jigoku.”
With each offense, Viper seemed to shrink into herself, as if she was running through each of the punishments for each crime. Ruki was staring at Leeteuk with hardened eyes. And at the last, both of them closed their eyes and looked away.
They both knew the punishment for the creation of a dark iDOL – Death.
Leeteuk sighed. “I’m sorry about this. We didn’t mean to take up a job. This was supposed to be a holiday. But Heechul there spent all our lodging money on clothes, so we had no choice.”
Ruki and Viper stared at him, wondering why he was telling them this. Leeteuk smiled reading their minds.
“Hah. Well, I’m getting to it.” He pulled out a brown folder and a lighter. “This here, is the evidence proving that the dark iDOL Jigoku existed. And this lighter…”
He flicked the lighter open, setting the open flame against the folder. The brown paper caught fire easily, the flames licking it hungrily. Ruki and Viper yelped in surprise.
“…is for burning it.” Leeteuk threw the remains away just before the flame reached his fingers. “Well, there. We’re going to turn you in for your other crimes now. No doubt you’ll get some heavy sentences, but it’s still better than the death sentence, no?”
“We’ll even leave your stuff where it is, so that you have some money after you come out. Of course, we won’t be liable if it gets reclaimed, or stolen, or anything. So what do you say? Come with us without any fuss?
Ruki eyed Leeteuk evenly. Before he nodded his consent.
There was that flighty smile again. “Good. Okay, everyone! Load the unconscious ones in the truck. And the two conscious ones will pillion ride on the bikes. Do you mind if we handcuff you? Just in case.”
While everyone rushed to carry out Leeteuk’s orders. Heechul sidled up to his leader. “You’re as crafty as usual aren’t you? Hyung?”
“What do you mean? I’m not up to anything.” Leeteuk didn’t look at Heechul, his eyes focusing on the prisoners, but his lips twitched into a slight smile.
“Sure you aren’t.” Heechul chortled. “Then that bulge in your pocket isn’t the energy cube they just stole?”
For a man who wasn’t up to anything, Leeteuk looked surprisingly unoffended by the accusation. “You have quite a low opinion of me. Although part of what you say is true, I took the cube for a good reason.”
“Oh?” Heechul’s eyebrow rose.
“Their leader, Ruki, wouldn’t have believed that I would let them off so lightly if he thought there was nothing in it for us.” Leeteuk chuckled. “I do want to end this mission as quietly as possible.”
“Ah…” Heechul nodded sagely, then winked at Leeteuk. “Not to mention that you’re planning to recruit more members, and you need ammunition for your cause.”
Leeteuk laughed, a high-pitched giggle. “Yes, yes. That too.”
“Leeteuk-hyung! Heechul-hyung!” the two oldest turned to stare at the panting Necromancer who had called them.
“What is it? Yesung?” Leeteuk asked.
“Er… umm… well, you see… I…” Yesung mumbled, as if embarrassed about something.
Heechul (as usual) was beginning to get impatient. “Out with it. Don’t waste time.”
“Er, well… Oh… just look behind you.”
Leeteuk and Heechul blinked confusedly at Yesung, before it dawned on them. Their alarmed eyes swung towards Yesung, and then behind to the row of terrifying black Beasts of the Dead that were now slinking eerily towards them.
“Yesung… you lost control again...” Heechul growled as the three of them inched slowly backwards.
“Yes.” The Necromancer answered miserably.
“Okay, on my command, execute Plan B.” Leeteuk murmured.
“What’s Plan B?”
“RUN!”
~*~
“Unni?”
“Yes?”
“Shouldn’t we help them?”
The older black-cloaked figure glanced amusedly at her younger. “What for? From their conversation, this seems to have happened before. They’ll handle it fine.”
The younger frowned down at the scene, watching as the guy called Leeteuk narrowly missed getting chewed in half by a Beast of Death. “Huh. Well, who are they anyway?”
“They’re a Korean iDOL called Super Junior, a group of 5 Guardians and 4 Souls. Apparently, they came here on holiday. 4 of them are on another mission to get the other half of their lodging money.” The older replied, while the younger stared suspiciously at her.
“You seem to know a lot about them? Are they the ones we need to find?”
“Hmm? Oh, no. Their contractor, Hankyung, deals with me often. He called me yesterday to hook up this other mission. It’s just coincidence that they were also hunting the dark iDOL we were after.” The older waved away the presumption.
“Why were we after them anyway? They seem like small fry.” The younger scowled at the members of the dark iDOL.
“Exactly, they’re small fry, yet the public offered 50 000 Adonis as their bounty.” The older sighed. “It was suspicious, so I decided to check it out. But it seems that their bounty is only high because they stole from the rich.”
“Hmm…” the younger rubbed her chin. “Still, why did you come down all the way yourself for such a menial task? You could have sent one of the Liaisons.”
The older laughed. “Oh, you are a sharp one aren’t you? Alright, I just wanted to see how the past was coming along, that’s all.”
The younger scowled, she hated when her Unni acted all enigmatic. “What?”
“Nothing, nothing. Let’s go, Dongsaeng.”
The younger sighed as the older disappeared into thin air. She took a last look at the messy scene below, a look of puzzlement on her face.
Then, she turned away.
She needed to catch up with her irritatingly enigmatic Unni before she got them into trouble again.
~*~